Chapter 02

"Let's start with the seal. Have you finished it?" Aoki started the conversation. I nodded as I take five identic scrolls from my pack.

"It is hard, but I managed to do it two days ago." I smile proudly at my work. It was a storage scroll that I created after learning about the basics of sealing just from the book and without any teachers. Aoki looked at this while nodded, clearly pleased with the quality of the scroll.

"Good, thank you. I tried to learn about the seal, but I didn't understand it for a bit. I am glad that you have experience in programming and saw the similarity between it to connect the dots. It will clearly help us in the future." I smile wryly at the mention of programming, one of my least favorite subjects in college.

"How about you? Have you finished collecting all we need?" This time, it is he who gives me a proud smile as he takes out a storage scroll from his pocket. When I take a look at the things inside of the scroll, I let a small whistle, clearly impressed with it.

There, I can see ration bars, fresh water, and can foods enough for us to live for a month. But what really impressed me is the herbs that he collected. I can see yarrows, lemon verbena, hyssop, and more rare medicinal herbs in fantastic amounts.

"You have outdone my expectation, Aoki-san. How about our route?" This time, Aoki takes out a small map from his pocket.

"From what you said about Land of Music, we will not go through the north because of Orochimaru's presence. West is also not an option, as it is too close to Iwa and they will not be happy seeing Konoha's citizens at the border. I don't really like going east as it is near the fire daimyo's temple and the protection is very high. It is also the very first place Konoha will come after the attack, so I don't want to risk being found out and branded as a traitor.

Our best option is the south route, as the only threat we will face is Kiri ninja, but I doubt they will manage to surprise us with a sneak attack. We also have geppo and soru to escape from tight positions. And what really convinces me to choose the south beside the threat from Kiri is they are now in a civil war and the Mizukage closed all the borders, so as long as we don't come near Kiri, we will not attract the attention." I nodded, agreeing with his explanation.

"So, have you thought about what will we do after we escape?" He took his time thinking about what to say before he looked into my eyes.

"I get the inspiration from your story about Akatsuki. I want to create a mercenary group that will be feared by all of the nations, and I want you to join me. We can make a small city in the south our base. I doubt it is difficult enough to find a small city that needs protection from bandits. What do you think?" Now he tensed as he looked at me intently, as if afraid that I will say no.

"That sound interesting, I am in." Now, he has this stunned expression.

"Just like that?" This time, I just chuckled at him.

"Yup, just like that. Do you think I will reject you?" Aoki sighed, releasing the tensed breath he held a few minutes ago.

"To be honest, I think you will reject it. Why do you want to join me?"

"Well, it is because you helped me a lot in the past. You didn't have to save me the first time we met, and you clearly didn't have to inform me about what Danzo planned for me. That choice is the reason why I choose to follow you. Besides, I think we reincarnator will have to stick together as the people who bear the same fate." He smiled, thanking me silently.

"Have you thought about what should we do when we started a new mercenary?" I cannot help but asked him since I know he was a former assassin from a famous mercenary group in his first life.

"It is easy, actually. We will be bounty hunters to make a reputation while we recruit a few members. We will probably not be as good as Akatsuki who all of the members are S-rank ninjas, but as long as they are loyal, we can always use more people for help." I nodded as I know that loyalty is a rare commodity in this world. Hell, even the advisor of Hokage has a plan to kill his leader. Then, I suddenly remembered something and said,

"Before we create this mercenary group, I want to make it clear that any civilians and kids will not be harmed by us. If those two rules are violated, then I am out." He nodded seriously.

"That rules are also the main rules of my former mercenary group, so you don't have to worry about us killing civilians." I sighed at that, finally relaxing my posture.

"So, what will we call our group?" Aoki smiles at this question.

"I have the perfect name for our little group. It is also the name of a mercenary group that was used by the feudal lord of Japan in the 14th century in our former world. The name is Ashigaru."

"Ashigaru, huh?" I muttered the name repeatedly and smiles, "A good name, indeed.."

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Time skip to the day of Kyuubi's attack

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I waited patiently for the night to come, clearly anxious about what would happen in the next few hours. Aoki is trying to find more information from his father before he kills him tonight and disguises the corpse as the victim of the Kyuubi attack. I grimaced at the thought of him killing his own father, but as his father has no love for him and vice versa, I will not make a comment about it.

"Are you ready?" A voice that I know very well from Aoki is coming from behind me. I nodded at his question.

"How are we going to escape?"

"I know from my father's memories all of the evacuation routes in Konoha. If there will be a large-scale battle between Konoha and Kyuubi, Yondaime will teleport Kyuubi to the Koajiro forest in the south because he will not want to alarm Iwa or Kumo that Konoha lost control of the Kyuubi, so we will have to stay out of the south route for at least a week.

Our best bet is leaving from the east gate, because the only problem we will have to face is fire daimyo's trope, and I have confidence we can avoid the trouble. From there we will go south to Kamakura city in the south. Also, always turn on your observation haki because we don't know what we will face in the future. Do you understand?" He stares at my eyes intently.

"Yes, I have the idea on my mind. When will we leave?"

"Right when you heard the first alarm. And in case we got separated, just go to Kamakura city in the south and wait for a month. If you didn't hear any news about me, you can assume that I am dead and leave, and I will do the same. If you meet me after we got separated, ask me anything in English, because it is only us who know about that language. Got it?"

I nodded as I have to admit that it is a very good idea, worthy of Nara. This is one of the moments I realize how Hokage wasted Yamanaka's brilliance by just making them interrogation officers instead of strategists. I mean, while they are not as smart as Nara, the Yamanaka clearly have more intelligence than any other Konoha clan. I mean, they studied how human's brain just for the sake of interrogation, for god's sake.

But all of the thoughts in my head vanished quickly as I heard a very loud noise coming from a lot of areas in Konoha. I snapped my attention to Aoki who nodded at me, knowing it was the alarm to evacuate ourselves. We nodded to each other as we have the same thought,

'It is time to leave!'

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Author note:

You can also read:

- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 36

- Naruto: Ashigaru up to chapter 07

I want to add more chapters to my Patreon account so you can read up to 10 chapters. But I still don't have that many chapters, so I just added them little by little. Hopefully, by the end of the week, you can read up to 10 chapters when you become a member. Thank you!

You can read all of it at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_') Thank you for your support! :)